A DEVELOPER gave Winnersh residents a chance to comment on controversial plans to build houses on a primary school playing field.

A DEVELOPER gave Winnersh residents a chance to comment on controversial plans to build houses on a primary school playing field.

Linden Homes staged a public meeting at Winnersh Community Hall to showcase its plans to build 18 homes at Winnersh Primary, in Greenwood Grove.

At the meeting, both councillors and residents expressed concerns about the loss of school fields and knock-on effects of overcrowding on transport and school places.

Residents have been strongly opposed to previous attempts to build on the site, lobbing the district council on a number of occasions.

Linden Homes already has planning permission for an 18-home scheme passed by a planning inspector in May last year.

The new plans put forward by Linden Homes include smaller houses and an access road leading on to Greenwood Grove instead of going straight through the school grounds.

The development has been mooted since 1997 when the former Berkshire County Council signed a deal giving Linden Homes the option of buying the land at a fixed 1997 price.

That deal has been shelved by the developer which said that new plans were better for the community and that the section 106 ‘planning gain' money will make up for the extra strain on resources.

Steve Lavers, a spokesman for Linden Homes, said: "We are a lot more community friendly than a lot of developers.

"We are letting people come and see for themselves what we are planning.

"Other companies would just get council permission and start building.

"We are ready to go ahead with one scheme but we are not going ahead with the original whole field development."

However, Winnersh Parish Council chairman Cllr David Ball said: "The fact that Linden Homes has put in a new application with a new access road in order to get to the property, by buying another plot, does not mean that we will fight this application with any less vigour than in the past."